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Find out what else is happening at UBC this week. For sports events, visit the UBC Athletics site at http://www.gothunderbirds.ca/calendar.aspx.

UBC People


UBC People

UBC named one of BC’s Top Employers in 2011

UBC has been named one of BC’s Top Employers in 2011, for the fifth consecutive year.

“UBC is grateful for the professional and personal achievements of our faculty and staff, and the community they belong to with students and alumni at the University,” said Lisa Castle, Associate Vice-President, Human Resources. “Every day, we are committed to providing a fulfilling environment and mutual respect, as well as encouraging the open exchange of idea and opinions as outlined in Place and Promise.”

UBC was recognized for:

  • Faculty and staff pension plans, as well as our retirement options;
  • Maternity leave salary top-up, and access to on-campus subsidized daycare;
  • Encouraging faculty and staff work-life balance;
  • Supporting employee development through tuition waivers and in-person and online training options; and
  • Tuition support and scholarships for the children of faculty and staff.

UBC has almost 20,000 faculty, staff and student employees at the campuses in Vancouver and Kelowna, as well as the distributed medical program, hospital, farm, forest and other locations. It is the largest employer of students in British Columbia, with over 8,000 student employees.

For more information on UBC people practices, visit http://www.focusonpeople.ubc.ca/.

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University Killam Professor – Prof. Sherrill Grace

The Board of Governors, on the recommendation of the President, has approved conferring the designation University Killam Professor on Prof. Sherrill Grace.  The designation recognizes exceptional members of faculty who have distinguished themselves as scholars in research and teaching and, as a result, have received the highest acclaim by the academic community and the general public.
 
Grace has been a professor of English for over thirty years at McGill University and the University of British Columbia.  She has published four scholarly editions, eight monographs, 11 edited collections, and 104 scholarly articles, as well as 109 review articles and related publications.

 She has received some of the most prestigious awards in the Canadian scholarly community and UBC.  Most recently, these have included the Lorne Pierce Medal of the Royal Society of Canada, the Canada Council Killam Prize in the Humanities and the Canada Council Killam Research Fellowship.  She is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, a recipient of the UBC Jacob Biely Faculty Research Prize, a UBC Distinguished University Scholar as well as a recipient of the UBC Killam Research Prize and UBC Killam Teaching Prize.

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Local blood pressure program reduces hospital admissions for cardiovascular disease

Dr. Janusz Kaczorowski, professor and director, Research Office, UBC Dept. of Family Practice, recently published a study in the British Medical Journal demonstrating how the Cardiovascular Health Awareness Program (CHAP), a unique, low-cost intervention, helped to reduce the burden of cardiovascular disease in participating communities, through reductions in blood pressure and other important risk factors. 

The study showed a nine per cent reduction in hospital admissions for cardiovascular disease for those over the age of 65 in the 20 communities where the program was held compared to 19 control communities.

Kaczorowski, along with Dr. Lisa Dolovich from McMaster University and Larry W. Chambers, PhD, from the Élisabeth Bruyère Research Institute, conducted a 10-week study that invited nearly 16,000 elder patients to attend risk assessment sessions held at 129 local pharmacies. More than 500 volunteers performed a total of 27,358 cardiovascular assessments, checking patients’ blood pressure, looking at risk factors, reviewing the warning signs of stroke and heart attack, and promoting blood pressure control and healthy living. This information was then transferred to the patient’s family physician, pharmacist and the patient. 

For more information about CHAP, visit www.chapprogram.ca

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Psychology prof receives award for outstanding research

UBC psychology professor Liane Gabora has been awarded the Berlyne Award for Outstanding Research by a Junior Scholar, presented by American Psychology Association Division 10.

Gabora will travel to Washington, D.C., this August to formally accept the recognition and present a one-hour talk on her research, which explores the mechanisms underlying creativity.

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UBC Film Production announces first Phil Lind Multicultural Artist in Residence and Rogers Multicultural Teaching Fellow

Actor and director Lorne Cardinal has been named as the UBC Film Production Program’s first “Phil Lind Multicultural Artist in Residence.” This position is awarded through the Program’s recently established Rogers Multicultural Film Production Project.

While in residency during March 2011, Cardinal will meet with students, give a public lecture and teach a master class for film students across the Lower Mainland.  He will work as a consultant in a course offered in the Film Production Program as part of the Rogers Project, in which students are learning film production skills and creating digital films focusing on First Nations topics. This inaugural course is being taught by Rogers Teaching Fellow Dwayne Beaver and will culminate in a community showcase and discussion forum where students will screen their work.

Cardinal is an actor and director best known as Sargent Davis Quinton on CTV’s hit series Corner Gas. He has won two Gemini Awards for Wapoos Bay and Corner Gas.

Beaver is a writer, director and producer in feature films, television series and animation work including The Rhino Brothers, Robson Arms, Moccasin Flats, Road Hockey Rumble, Glutton for Punishment, War Planets and BBC’s The Mr. Hell Show.  He is currently an adjunct professor in the Capilano University Indigenous Independent Filmmakers Program.

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Sociology prof wins UBC Press book prize

UBC sociology professor Ralph Matthews, and his co-author Nathan Young, have been awarded the 2011 K.D. Srivastava Prize, named in honour of UBC professor emeritus K.D. Srivastava, for their book The Aquaculture Controversy in Canada: Activism, Policy, and Contested Science. 

The award is given each year by the Publications Board of UBC Press to the author(s) of a work of outstanding scholarly quality published by the Press in the previous year.

The jury stated that it was “impressed by the original contribution of The Aquaculture Controversy in Canada to understanding how and why the controversy over aquaculture in Canada is so deep and lasting.  The book is clearly written, effectively organized, draws on original surveys, and contributes substantially to a broader debate in environmental sociology.”

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Nominations open for 2010/11 UBC Vancouver Student Development Awards

The Office of the Vice President Students recognizes exceptional contributions or significant improvements to the student experience and learning environment at UBC. Nominations are invited from UBC students, faculty, staff and alumni for the 2010/11 UBC Vancouver Student Development Awards. 

The categories of awards and winners for the last two years are:
 Margaret Fulton Award: For an individual
2008/09: Jane Flick, David Chiu, Margo Fryer
2009/10: Nancy Gallini, Robert Winson, Janet Sinclair Walker

Helen McCrae Award: For a service for students provided by AMS, GSS or UBC
2008/09: First (2007/08) Executive of the Environmental Science
Students¹ Association, International Peer Program
2009/10: UBC Arts Co-op Students Association

Alfred Scow Award: For an undergraduate program or department
2008/09: Department of Computer Science
2009/10: Department of Psychology

Peter Larkin Award: For a graduate program or department
2008/09: History Department¹s Graduate Program, Department of Statistics
2009/10: Not awarded

Deadline for nominations: Feb. 14, 2011.  Nominations should be forwarded to the Office of the Vice President, Students, Room 123, Old Administration Building, 6328 Memorial Rd or email lyuen@exchange.ubc.ca 

For more information, visit http://www.vpstudents.ubc.ca/student.cfm

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Sustainability Office launches one week survey; participants can win iPad

The UBC Sustainability Office is launching a one-week survey on sustainability.  UBC students, staff, faculty, community members, and interested public are invited to respond. Participants can share their thoughts on sustainability, how UBC is doing, what more can be done and have a chance to win an iPad. 

The online survey can be found at http://qtrial.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_8jmq9QPvsgbAeHy.  For more information, visit sustain.ubc.ca.

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HR contest: update your email address, win a TV

One of the challenges at UBC is communicating with all employees across its many sites and campuses. The tool the University uses for official communications is the Broadcast Email System. To ensure  successful delivery of important university emails, UBC faculty and staff are asked to update their personal records with their primary UBC business email address (if your primary business email address is not from UBC, enter your primary business address).

Participants can win one of two 19-inch flatscreen TVs.  The contest closes Feb. 28, 2011 at midnight. The draw will be made on March 1.  This contest is open to all UBC employees. Participants must be active employees at the time of the draw.

To enter the contest, visit

http://www.hr.ubc.ca/blog/2011/01/update-your-email-address-and-enter-to-win-a-tv/

For questions regarding eligibility, contact communications@hr.ubc.ca.

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Asia Pacific Memo publications about North Korea, China, and Mongolia

The Institute of Asian Research’s Asia Pacific Memo publication features accessible scholarly knowledge about contemporary Asia. Each Tuesday and Thursday, short text memos or video interviews are published on their website, http://www.asiapacificmemo.ca/

The most recent publications feature UBC faculty:

• Kyung-Ae Park, Korea Foundation Chair at the Institute of Asian Research (IAR), examines North Korea’s foreign policy in a 6-part video interview.
• Julian Dierkes, associate director of IAR, wrote about the Current Convulsions in Mongolia’s Political Party Landscape.
• Robert Hanlon, postdoctoral research fellow, IAR, wrote “Hu Jintao’s Promise to Business: Can He Deliver?”

To read these memos, and for more information on Asia Pacific Memo and how to receive a free subscription, visit http://www.asiapacificmemo.ca/

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CiTR Radio Prof Talk interviews Dr. Carlos Ventura, Professor of Civil Engineering

On UBC CiTR Radio’s Prof Talk, with host Farha Khan, Carlos Ventura from the Dept. of Civil Engineering, will discuss his role as the Director of the Earthquake Engineering Research facility at UBC as well as some of the recent seismic trends in structural engineering. 

Every second Tuesday, Prof Talk on 101.9FM features interviews with professors from a variety of disciplines.

Date:  Feb. 15
Time:  3 p.m.
Info: Live programming: http://citr.ca
Podcasts: http://feeds.feedburner.com/Citr–ProfTalk
Show schedule: http://ubcproftalk.blogspot.com

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